Ground preparation, lawn care and landscaping are fairly common activities, being essential to the upkeep and maintenance of home lawns, parks, stadiums, highways, berms and farms. Although there are some prior art devices designed to assist in lawn care, such as mowers, there are relatively few devices designed to augment the application of fertilizer mixes, agriculture seed and related compositions. Moreover, the devices available are cumbersome and time consuming to use. As evidenced by the lawn care aids presently available, it can be seen that in general, lawn care is still a labor intensive activity.
There are few machines designed to aid in the laying a cover of agriculture seed or fertilizer mix over the surface of a lawn, such as the broadcast type spreader. One such fertilizer or seed spreader is comprised generally of a bucket or basin to place the fertilizer in, the basin being mounted on a pair of wheels and having a number of small openings at the bottom. A number of blades rotate about an axis running across the lower end of the basin, forcing the fertilizer or seed out of the openings in the bottom of the basin. A handle extends upwardly from the basin so that the operator can grasp the handle and push the device to make it operate. The operator of the device then walks back and forth over the entire surface to be covered in order to apply the fertilizer. On a larger scale, the device may be operated by mounting it to the back of a vehicle, and pulling it over the surface of the ground.
Other fertilizer compositions are not suited for use with the pushcart device previously described, in particular ground cellulose materials, and thus need to be applied manually. In the manual application of the fertilizer, one must take handfuls of seed, fertilizer or mix and sprinkle it over patches of the yard or over perhaps the entire lawn.
The devices and methods available in the prior art are cumbersome and time consuming to use. The limitations of the devices are even more apparent in industrial applications such as stadium fields, parks and highways where there is a greater surface area to be covered.
The applicant is aware of certain devices designed primarily for spreading insulation into the walls or attic of a structure. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,307 of Deitesfeld discloses an apparatus for blowing insulation comprised of an upright hopper over an agitator having rotating blades for directing the insulation through the apparatus and outward through a blower hose attached to the device. Such an apparatus has been successful in effectively spreading insulation because of its portability and blowing power. Thus far, however, this technology has not been utilized for any other purposes other than its intended purpose for spreading insulation.
As seen by the prior art, devices have been developed that aid in the spreading of seed or fertilizer over the surface of a lawn. However, it can be seen that none of these devices completely solve the problem of providing an easy, fast and efficient way for the operator to spread fertilizer or seed evenly over the ground. The operator typically has to walk back and forth over the area being attended to, spreading the fertilizer or seed over the surface of the ground. The materials are often applied in a non-uniform manner, wherein application of the materials in some areas may be thicker than others. Further, the operator needs then to undertake a second time consuming step of watering the ground once the material has been applied. The watering step is intended not only to effect growth, but to help secure the materials to the ground. On a windy day, it is readily apparent that a delay between applying seed or fertilizer and moistening the fertilized ground could result in the agriculture seed/fertilizer mix being blown away from the place where it has been applied.
A desired apparatus and method for spreading fertilizer should include a portable, powerful device which is efficient and easy to use. Preferably, the device and method should include the ability to combine the fertilizer, seed and moisture as the material is being applied to the ground. The device should be adapted for precise application of the agriculture seed/fertilizer mix, while being relatively easy to use.